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Aug 5, 2012

Classy Noms: Baked Crab Rangoon

Every now and then, I put down the Stormtrooper action figures and put on a flowy dress and high heels and go out like a grown woman. I know, it's shocking to me, too, but it's fun to get dressed up and sip wine and talk about grown up stuff. The other night, I went out with some friends to a local winery for some live music and yummy wine. We went to Sweet Cheeks Winery out here in Eugene and it was soooo beautiful! The weather was perfect, the scenery was gorgeous, and the wine and music were lovely.

The winery allows guests to bring in food to enjoy like a picnic, so our group decided to all pitch in potluck style. My friend brought a really delicious Zucchini Raw Pad Thai she found on allrecipes.com - I ate two whole servings AND I licked the yummy sauce off my plate (so much for acting like an adult). For my dish, I decided to go with finger food: crab rangoon. I've seen several recipes on pinterest and on some healthy foodie blogs I follow that recreate this pan fried cheesey crabby goodness pocket in a baked form, and I've been fiddling with some substitutions to make it my way (meaning I didn't want to track down some ingredients from the Asian store across town). I used the recipe from Tracey's Culinary Adventures as my starting point and changed out some ingredients - I swapped yogurt instead of sour cream, and I used imitation crab instead of real (which I prefer, actually) I think the changes make the rangoons a bit lower in fat and healthier and still VERY tasty. These go really well with a sweet and sour grape-chili sauce that I like to put on pretty much everything XD

Preheat oven to 425°F. Prep a baking sheet with a silicone mat or greased foil.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine yogurt, cream cheese, onion, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sugar, zest, and crab. Maybe also add the tiniest squeeze of fresh lemon juice to the bowl. Smash it around a lot to get the yogurt, cheese and the crab to mix together. I use a flat spatula and smoosh everything against the side of the bowl to make sure it gets all combined.
Now it's time to fill yo rangoons! Set up an assembly line with the filling bowl, the wonton wrappers, a plate, and a small dish of water. Work one wrapper at a time. Lay out a wrapper on the plate. Scoop about 1 - 2 teaspoons of filling into the middle of the wrapper. Try to not over fill - this way you can get more rangoon and less mess. Dip the tip of your finger into the water and wet two opposite corners of the wrapper. Fold one corner diagonally over the filling, and overlap it with its opposite corner. Then wet the other two opposite corners and bring them up over the filling and pinch them together. Repeat this for all the wrappers, you should get about 22 - 24.
Arrange the rangoons on the baking sheet, lightly spray them with non-stick spray or light oil, and set it in the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges of all the rangoon are brown. Allow the rangoon to cool on a rack. Serve warm and with sweet and sour grape chili sauce.

Sweet and Sour Grape Chili Sauce

Click to download a printable recipe card for SS Grape Chili Sauce
I first heard about this from my mom when she brought meatballs with this sauce to Christmas a long time ago. It sounds crazy and yucky, but I have never met a person who passed up this sauce after trying it. It's super easy and I don't know how it works out like it does, so I'm tossing this up to some magical kitchen alchemy.

Things you'll need:

2 tbsp grape jelly (not preserves, no seeds or fruity chunks)

2 tbsp Heinz chili sauce - or - 2 tbsp mild Pace salsa

Mix grape jelly and chili sauce or grape jelly and salsa in a small sauce pan. Warm over medium heat to melt the jelly and combine (do not boil, that would be gross). Mix continuously and heat only until the mixture is homogenous. Remove from heat and pour into a dip or sauce dish. Allow it to cool before eating, and then dig in. Try to not think about the ingredients while you enjoy.